Pennsylvania Game News - October 2008 - 12

wealth. We donned our waders and headed to our first stop on SGL 213 where a nest had just hatched. Stempka snuck out to the nest with a bucket and a net; when the hen flushed, he and Jacobs quickly gathered the scattering ducklings into the bucket and waded back to the tailgate to tag them. Once they were all tucked safely back into the hen house we slopped back into the trucks and headed to SGL 284 in Mercer County. We drove on damp grassy two-tracks that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly, we spun tires on slick muddy vegetation, and we held onto the cargo as we rocked through bumpy terrain, each time arriving at beautiful secluded wetlands. Some of the other nests we visited weren’t quite ready to hatch, but we could hear the ducklings pipping away inside, and when we candled one I could see the silhouette of its little head poking up above rest of the stuff in the egg. At another nest, several ducklings dropped out of the hen house to the water when the hen flushed, and Jacobs and I helped gather them into the bucket. To make things easier while they were being processed, the ones sporting new web tags were placed in my vest pocket. After we released the clutch into the water near the anxiously awaiting hen and started the trek back to the truck, Jacobs asked, “How many ducklings where there?” “A pocketful plus two,” I answered. Which Stempka clarified as 11. Results: Are the structures increasing the nesting population? Are they adding nesting places or providing alternative nesting places? And, if they are alternative nesting spots, is the safer alternative worth the effort and expense involved? These are questions Stempka hopes to help answer. Nesting success and utilization rates will be determined for each study area. And, the bands and web tags will help determine philopatry and homing (the likelihood of a hatchling returning to nest in the area where it was hatched). As of mid-July there were 32 mallards and 22 wood ducks using nesting structures Who’s Who? The Flyway Foundation, beyond being the inspiration for this project, constructed, donated and shipped nearly 1,000 mallard hen houses and mounting tripods to Pennsylvania. They have donated more than $16,000 in materials, labor and shipping. They also sent another 200 hen houses to MI for a similar study. Delta Waterfowl helped redesign the hen house in response to declining nest success of mallards on the prairies years ago. They also provided $35,000 to support this research. Long Point Waterfowl & Wetlands Research Fund installed, maintains and is monitoring nearly 200 hen houses in southern Ontario and helped put the plan in place on the PA study site. The Northwestern Pennsylvania Duck Hunters Association and The Susquehanna River Waterfowl Association committed $4,000 toward the Ontario technician and supplies and maintenance of structures on both sites. The PGC has committed time and resources to install the structures on State Game Lands as well as maintain them for the next 10 years. In-kind labor and vehicle costs for the first two years of the project totaled more than $20,000. Food & Cover Crews monitor wood duck boxes and hen houses and, in winter, repair and replace existing structures as well as erect new ones. In spring they keep up with the beavers, undoing their work and keeping culverts clean to maintain water levels. Other cooperators include: Canadian Wildlife Service, Pennsylvania Conservation Corps, DCNR-Presque Isle State Park and several private landowners. 12 GAME NEWS

Pennsylvania Game News - October 2008

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